At The Hat Guys, tradition meets style

With an inventory of 25,000 hats with over 25 different brands, the Hat Guys is one of the largest hat stores on the West Coast.

Derrek Bell leans forward and places his elbows on the counter, turning the hat he is holding upside down to expose the price tag attached to the inside. He holds it gently, careful not to pinch it or bend it out of shape. The Panama hat has travelled all the way from Cuenca in Ecuador, where it was manufactured, to a factory in Alessandria, Italy, where it was shaped and tagged with a little navy label that spelled “Borsalino” in a cursive gold font. It is now on a rack at The Hat Guys, an upscale hat shop in downtown Oakland that has served famous heads for over two decades.

Bell has worked here as a salesman for seven years. “Take a look at this,” he says, pointing at the price tag. The Borsalino name puts the hat’s price at $1,200. It is one of the most expensive hats in the store.

The Hat Guys built its reputation as an upscale hat store soon after it opened its doors in 1988, says owner Ken Oranje. With an inventory of 25,000 hats with over 25 different brands, it is one of the largest hat stores on the West Coast today. But despite the wide variety available, the design that has best withstood the changes in styles and fashion and remains the most popular today is the fedora, says Oranje. “Right now, it’s a fedora with a smaller brim,” he says, pointing to the hat he is wearing which has a “stingy” brim.